SAN ILDEFONSO – Five rescuers were killed in the Philippines after they were sent to a flooded community during a powerful typhoon, authorities said today, without releasing details on their cause of death.
The strongest storm to hit the Philippines this year swept across the main island of Luzon, toppling trees and flooding low-lying communities, but so far there have been no reports of severe damage.
The five rescuers were in San Miguel municipality in Bulacan province, near the capital Manila, when they died.
“They were deployed by the provincial government to a flooded area,” said San Miguel police chief Romualdo Andres.
San Miguel disaster officer Renan Herrera confirmed the deaths and said they may have drowned in floodwaters.
The Philippines is regularly ravaged by storms, with scientists warning they are becoming more powerful as the world gets warmer because of climate change.
Super Typhoon Noru smashed into the archipelago nation yesterday after an unprecedented “explosive intensification” in wind speeds, the state weather forecaster said earlier.
It made landfall about 100km northeast of the densely populated capital Manila, before weakening to a typhoon as it crossed a mountain range, coconut plantations and rice fields.
Nearly 75,000 people were evacuated from their homes before the storm hit, as the meteorology agency warned heavy rain could cause “serious flooding” in vulnerable areas, trigger landslides and destroy crops.
This morning, however, there was no sign of the widespread devastation many had feared.
“We were ready for all of this,” President Ferdinand Marcos Jr told a briefing with disaster agencies.
“You might think that we overdid it. There is no such thing as overkill when it comes to disasters.” – AFP, September 26, 2022
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